1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to liquid for ejection containing bio-specimen and methods for ejecting bio-specimen.
2. Related Art
For examining several ten types of biomolecules contained in blood, several ten cc of blood is necessary at present. In this connection, a detection technology that can substantially reduce the amount of blood required for examination is necessary.
As a method for accurately and efficiently dispensing a very small amount of liquid, it is possible to use the ink jet technology. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2008-137987 (Patent Document 1) describes an example in which a solution containing at least one kind of protein and peptide is ejected by an inkjet method utilizing thermal energy.
Bio-specimens, such as, blood, contain many molecules, such as, protein molecules that would likely adhere nonspecifically to surfaces near ejection orifices and of flow paths of the ink jet head. Therefore, there are cases where those molecules, when adhered, clog the ejection orifices and the flow paths, incapacitating stable ejection. Also, as the ejected bio-specimen is subject to biochemical examination, the bioactivity of the contained biomolecules needs to be maintained. However, Patent Document 1 does not describe any concrete methods to address such an issue.